Kentucky education officials' consideration of Next Generation Science Standards gained national attention last month when The Huffington Post and others picked up on criticism of evolution and climate change during a public hearings on the matter.

Here's the latest:

The Kentucky Board of Education on Thursday rejected that public opposition and approved a final report from the education department on the new science standards.

The state received thousands of responses during the public comment period. A petition with 3,700 names was signed in support of the standards, and Kentucky education officials include several scientific organizations that have shown their support. At the same time, the state received over one-hundred identical emails that opposed inclusion of evolution and characterized it as a theory and not a fact.

I vote that every science classroom in America spend the first day of school explaining what a scientific theory is, how they’re formed, and the predictions made and verified by them. Heliocentrism, gravity, atomic theory, and we evolved heres 100000 studies that support it.

Kentucky has the right to reject science. The catch is that also entails rejecting prosperity. No Kentuckian will be able to do many jobs that need being done, other than Walmart greeter. It will serve them right. It will reduce the number of creationists in the world.

Evolution

Citing support from dozens of scientific organizations, Kentucky education department officials rejected comments opposing evolution in the new standards, saying it’s “the fundamental, unifying theory that underlies all the life sciences.” It goes on to say, “there is no significant ongoing debate within the scientific community regarding the legitimacy of evolution as a scientific idea.”

KDE also notes that the concept of evolution already exists in the current version of the Kentucky Core Academic Standards for Science and has been assessed since 2006.

Creationism and Intelligent Design

KDE rejected comments related to including intelligent design in the new standards because they lack scientific support. “The overwhelming majority of scientists do not consider creationism intelligent design,” the report says.

Officials also point to court decisions that have repeatedly declared teaching creationism and intelligent design as unconstitutional. The new standards no not attempt to explain the origin of life, while creationism and intelligent design do, the report reads.

There is this little addendum which should be watched!

Further it says that local districts may choose to tailor their curricula to fit their needs.

Way to go, Kentucky. I have been reading reports of the shenanigans of fundie xtians screwing up science education in the US for years, from over here in Australia. A great relief at last to hear that sanity has won over stupidity in this case.

“… the state received over one-hundred identical emails that opposed inclusion of evolution and characterized it as a theory and not a fact.”

You cannot understand facts without some kind of theory, so one has to wonder what these theory-averse pseudo-fact-seekers are getting at. It is not as though the Christian opponents of the new proposed science standards for education in Kentucky have any facts to present that counter those on which current scientific theories are based, let alone any facts that support their biblical superstitions concerning the origins of the world and living species, and a number of other matters.

I would not advocate a persecution of Christians – let them believe what they like in their private lives and associations – but the public good does seem to require, especially in some states of the United States, that the respect customarily shown for religion in public should be withdrawn and adherents of religion be made aware of the contempt which their groundless and idiotic beliefs merit.

Taking into account that Kentucky is the home of the Creation Museum, the Education officials of this state are doing quite well. It would have been appalling if these officials had recomended the syllabus of the “museum”. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Kentucky’s next generation of Education officials, educated in the “intellectual” spirit of the “museum”, strongly recommended to apply its syllabus. I hope I’m wrong.

I don’t know that Creationist Museum in Kentucky is pretty convincing with all of those animatronic dinosaurs. Just Kidding! Welcome to modernity Kentucky, soon you can teach the Dark Ages in history class instead of as Current Affairs.